This is an idea that just came to me and I felt I had to write it.
Doctor Ray's Deepest Fear
He was immobilised.
Nothing that he could do would enable him to move a muscle.
All he could do was to watch in horror as Nate Haskell set up the machine, and turned the dials to do…whatever they were going to do.
Then that hated face was looking at him, looking him in the eye, that sneering half-smile on the bespectacled face.
"I just want you to understand exactly what I'm going to do, Ray" said Haskell. "It's quite simple; you might call it a sociological experiment. I think you'll find it interesting too; I certainly shall. We both know that if my mind was in YOUR body, it would not change my personality in the least; I would continue to be me, doing what I do best, what I like to do the most; and in your body, why, I'll be able to do even more, because nobody will suspect genial Doctor Ray of the things I do; and I shall even be in a position to cover up evidence that I don't want found. YOU on the other hand, in possession of MY body could continue to fight the beast within you or, because you don't have to live up to being Doctor Ray any more, could succumb and do what you know you want to. Which do you think you will do?"
"I will always fight the violence!" Ray found he could at least speak.
Haskell gave his twisted smile.
"Will you indeed?" he said "But you are almost snarling, Ray; you want to get out of the chair and get your hands on my throat. Why not give in to it? Why not let your nature out? You'll feel so much better if you do!"
Ray did snarl then.
"Oh yes; you see now how satisfying it is?" said Haskell.
Ray fought to get his rage under control; the red mists threatened to overwhelm him.
"I became a doctor because doctors do no harm" he said firmly.
Haskell laughed.
"How naïve!" he said "Doctors can do a great deal of harm! Have you never wondered about Doctor Mengele? Not to mention all those doctors whose harm is caused by blundering inefficiency; causing harm deliberately is so much more satisfying than stumbling into it through ineptitude you know."
"But only to a monster" said Ray.
"And in a moment you will have the body of the very monster you hate so much" said Haskell "Really I'm flattered that you hate me as much as you do; it means that I have a degree of power over you, you know. As well of course" he waved a hand "as the physical power I have over you at the moment. When I throw the switch, having put the second set of electrodes on my own head, our personalities will be swapped; I will be free to pursue my course of life in your body and you….. well I SHALL be interested to know what you will do."
"Turn myself in and tell them what's going on" said Ray.
"Oh tut tut! So foolish a course of action" said Haskell "They won't believe you; they'll only have you handed over to brilliant Doctor Ray to psychoanalyse. Me, in other words. Of course I might enjoy that encounter, but I doubt you would…..ready?" and he fitted the bizarre cap onto his head that was identical to the one Ray realised was on his.
He pulled the lever.
Ray screamed!
oOo
Ray sat up in bed, his body sodden with sweat, shaking.
He felt weak in every limb.
He had to get up.
He had to have a glass of water for his dry mouth; more important he had to look in the mirror.
He walked, rather unsteadily to the bathroom.
The mirror returned his gaze with the familiar, if harrowed and sweat-streaked dark and handsome face.
Ray heaved a sigh of relief.
That nightmare had been rather too realistic for his peace of mind. He drank a glass of water, showered, and put on fresh pyjamas.
He was Doctor Ray; and he was in control of himself; and he would do no harm.
Even to Nate Haskell who would be caught by due process.
Nate Haskell did not lurk within him.
And he could banish the thought of that mocking voice saying 'are you sure, Ray?' inside his subconscious.
He would read a boring textbook to send him off to sleep again, and in the morning his routine work at the Crimelab would be as normal. The nightmare forgotten.
Though perhaps it might not be a bad idea to tell Catherine about it…just in case….